Training Day

Am back ... did not had time to blog for the last 3 days because I was busy preparing for the QTP training that I and Gaurav were to gave. Since the nature of training was very technical and the audience well informed and educated, it was a real test for us to come up with effective power-point presentations and examples.

Couple of weeks back, I and Gaurav decided that we would give training on QTP since it is very popular topic in my office (specially among the tester group) and not many people in my organization gives training on QTP. We learned QTP recently and were very enthusiastic about the idea of imparting wisdom (Haaa !!!). So we coordinated with the training department and scheduled a 3 days long training from Wednesday (of 2 hours each). Wednesday came and we both were very jittery on day 1 because we are not used to give presentations and speaking in front of an audience. It was a case of classic stage fright. Also, we did not plan the training properly. Even the presentation slides were not very organized. The room was full of eager ears. They were really up to it for the training. We had planned 2 hours long training but it ended in less than 100 minutes. We did explain everything that we planned to, but not in the most effective way. I would say ... not the best of days and the training ended in just OK mode. At the end of the training, we sat down and decided that we need to have a proper plan and a good presentation. We decided to make the training more informative and also decided that we both will share the training 50-50. I went home and stayed up till 3 in the morning to make a ‘fundoo’ presentation and jotted down examples to present. I also planned the way to conduct the presentation and its ‘flow’. Thursday came and the presentation went much (much) better as compared to previous day. We almost used the slotted 2 hours and gave lots of illustrations and examples to support the presentation. When we came out of the training room, we felt like kings. We followed the same method and divided the topics among ourselves for the next day. Again, I stayed up pretty late to create the presentation. Today was the third and the last day of training and we absolutely nailed it. It went really well (better than what we anticipated). We were so good today that couple of girls came and told us that it was a really good session and they thanked us for the training. I looked at Gaurav and he was also happy as Larry.

An hour later, I asked Gaurav to check with the training department about the feedback for the training (if any). And soon Gaurav emailed me the final feedback score. WOW !!!! unbelievable. We got an overall 4 out of 5 ratings (21 feedbacks for 3 sessions). The best part of that feedback chart was number of 5s that we got for Knowledge of the Subject, Quality of Training Material, and Presentation and Communication Skills. Gaurav called me up and said that couple of people even told him that this was the best QTP training given in our office. WA WA WI WA ... and the best part of the feedback – it was genuine. We did not ask anyone to fill the feedback form. That’s make it more special. Oh how good am I feeling today ... I feel vindicated that I can do good things if I work hard enough and do the work sincerely.

Tonight ... I will sleep like a baby :-)

Cheers